Marvin Gaye was a troubled man. One of many frustrated pop crooners on the Motown label, he released dimensions within himself that his followers are still just beginning to comprehend. The death of his sparkling duet partner Tammi Terrell in March 1970 devasted him, along with constant problems with drugs, his father, and Motown brass. After a period of mourning, depression, and creation, Gaye produced a masterpiece of mood, melody, and bitter reality. This was the most important work of Gaye's life, and the beginning of a new era for Motown. Gaye described the genesis of What's Going One to writer David Ritz in Divided Soul:

"I looked at what was happening at Woodstock and thought to myself, Here's a whole generation of people about to travel a new path. I understood that musically I'd have to go on a path of my own. The Motown corporate attitude didn't didn't give me much room to breathe, but I was starting to feel strong enough to start down my own path. When my brother Frankie came home from Vietnam and began telling me stories, my blood started to boil. I knew I had something-an anger, an energy, an artistic point of view. It was time to stop playing games."

A number of breakthroughs in recording occurred for Marvin as he visualized the record as a musical whole. Inspired by listening to the fluid lines of jazz great Lester Young, the seamless flow of the album made sense to him, and he worked up the courage to do it.

When Gaye delivered the record, Berry Gordy couldn't stand it. He called the title song "the worst record I've ever heard" and refused to release it. Gaye had to threaten to leave the label to defend his album. The publicity department put it out with very little fanfare. The record shot into the Top 10, and was No. 1 soul for five weeks.

Every song on What's Going On melded together. It was an endlessly elegant, blue mood put to music; there were episodes of bitter melancholy and despair, and few emotional highs. But it was beautiful. The relaxed string ensemble, the wispy drums, and the velvet moans of Marvin Gaye were irresistibly strong. No one had ever recorded music like this before.

SOURCE: Funk by Rickey Vincent

What's Going On





What's Going On [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]
Marvin Gaye
$8.99